Chapter 18: The Petition

Lydia's POV

The Chancery of the Crown sat at noon, in a hall with a painted ceiling and four hundred seats, and every seat was taken.

I stood at the front in my plainest grey gown, with Henry beside me and my father behind.

Henry's uncle sat across the aisle with two cousins.

He was a heavy man with a gold chain, and he had not been to Barrington House in four years.

The Chancellor rapped his gavel.

"The petition of Mr. Barrington and his sons, to annul the marriage of Lord Barrington to Lydia Tindall."

He peered over his spectacles.

"Be brief."

The uncle rose.

"My lord Chancellor, this marriage is a stain on the family. The groom took his own brother's wife, within days, by a writ granted in haste."

"The writ was granted by the King," Henry said.

"On the word of the bride herself, who stands accused of poisoning the late Lady Barrington in the open square."

A murmur ran along the benches.

"The late Lady Barrington," I said clearly, "was not dead when she left the vestry."

"There is a physician's certificate."

"There is a physician who was wrong. He is in this hall, and I will ask him."

The grey physician stood up in the third row, and he looked at his shoes.

"I did not hear a heartbeat," he said. "I pronounced her."

"Did you open her eyes?"

"I did not."

"Did you smell her breath?"

"No, my lady."

"Poppy has a sweet sharp smell," I said. "It is on the flask the guards were given, and it was in the vestry this morning. I smelled it myself."

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